diff --git a/b2rdf.php b/b2rdf.php
index 6923cebfd6..d865de00c3 100644
--- a/b2rdf.php
+++ b/b2rdf.php
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 <?php
-$curpath = dirname(__FILE__).'/';
-require_once ($curpath.'wp-config.php');
-require_once ($curpath.WPINC.'/template-functions.php');
+require_once ('./wp-config.php');
 if (!empty($_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"])) {
 	$location = get_bloginfo('rdf_url').'?'.$_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"];
 }
diff --git a/b2rss.php b/b2rss.php
index 5a2f2b9139..ee058a5076 100644
--- a/b2rss.php
+++ b/b2rss.php
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 <?php
-$curpath = dirname(__FILE__).'/';
-require_once ($curpath.'wp-config.php');
-require_once ($curpath.WPINC.'/template-functions.php');
+require_once ('./wp-config.php');
 if (!empty($_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"])) {
 	$location = get_bloginfo('rss_url').'?'.$_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"];
 }
diff --git a/b2rss2.php b/b2rss2.php
index 846ad64efe..118994fbc4 100644
--- a/b2rss2.php
+++ b/b2rss2.php
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 <?php
-$curpath = dirname(__FILE__).'/';
-require_once ($curpath.'wp-config.php');
-require_once ($curpath.WPINC.'/template-functions.php');
+require_once ('./wp-config.php');
 if (!empty($_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"])) {
 	$location = get_bloginfo('rss2_url').'?'.$_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"];
 }
diff --git a/wp-admin/import-greymatter.php b/wp-admin/import-greymatter.php
index 717a2d75c0..2761ff329a 100644
--- a/wp-admin/import-greymatter.php
+++ b/wp-admin/import-greymatter.php
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 
-// 1. save as gm-2-b2.php
-// 2. upload on your server in the directory where your b2 files are
-// 3. load in the browser from there
-
 require_once('../wp-config.php');
-require_once(ABSPATH.WPINC.'/functions.php');
 require('upgrade-functions.php');
 
 $wpvarstoreset = array('action', 'gmpath', 'archivespath');
diff --git a/wp-admin/link-parse-opml.php b/wp-admin/link-parse-opml.php
index e40d37abae..8ec0465847 100644
--- a/wp-admin/link-parse-opml.php
+++ b/wp-admin/link-parse-opml.php
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 <?php
 require_once('../wp-config.php');
-require_once(ABSPATH.WPINC.'/functions.php');
 
 // columns we wish to find are:  link_url, link_name, link_target, link_description
 // we need to map XML attribute names to our columns
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index 19bf5da911..dc337bc205 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -526,6 +526,9 @@ function timer_stop($display=0,$precision=3) { //if called like timer_stop(1), w
 }
 
 function weblog_ping($server = '', $path = '') {
+include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpc.php');
+include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpcs.php');
+
   $f = new xmlrpcmsg('weblogUpdates.ping',
 				array(new xmlrpcval(get_settings('blogname'), 'string'),
 					new xmlrpcval(get_settings('siteurl') ,'string')));
@@ -699,6 +702,8 @@ function debug_fclose($fp) {
 }
 
 function pingback($content, $post_ID) {
+include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpc.php');
+include_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpcs.php');
 	// original code by Mort (http://mort.mine.nu:8080)
 	global $wp_version;
 	$log = debug_fopen('./pingback.log', 'a');
diff --git a/wp-settings.php b/wp-settings.php
index 4bcaf85c83..6bde0423fa 100644
--- a/wp-settings.php
+++ b/wp-settings.php
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ $tableoptionvalues        = $table_prefix . 'optionvalues';
 $tableoptiongroups        = $table_prefix . 'optiongroups';
 $tableoptiongroup_options = $table_prefix . 'optiongroup_options';
 $tablepostmeta            = $table_prefix . 'postmeta';
+
 define('WPINC', 'wp-includes');
+
 require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/wp-db.php');
 
 $wpdb->hide_errors();
@@ -34,22 +36,13 @@ if (!$users && !strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'install.php')) {
 }
 $wpdb->show_errors();
 
-// This is the name of the include directory. No "/" allowed.
-
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/functions.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . 'wp-config-extra.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/template-functions.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpc.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/class-xmlrpcs.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/links.php');
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/kses.php');
+require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/functions.php');
+require (ABSPATH . 'wp-config-extra.php');
+require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/template-functions.php');
+require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/links.php');
+require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/kses.php');
 require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/wp-l10n.php');
 
-//setup the old globals from b2config.php
-//
-// We should eventually migrate to either calling
-// get_settings() wherever these are needed OR
-// accessing a single global $all_settings var
 if (!strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'install.php') && !strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'wp-admin/import')) {
 
     $querystring_start = '?';
@@ -61,7 +54,7 @@ if (!strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 'install.php') && !strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST
 
 } //end !$_wp_installing
 
-require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vars.php');
+require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/vars.php');
 
 
 // Check for hacks file if the option is enabled